nurch 

mes 


y 

THE  TASK  OF  THE 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
IN  THE 

PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 


As  seen  by  the  Deputation  party  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  who  visited 
the  Islands  in  1915,  consisting  of  Secre- 
tary Robert  E.  Speer,  Treasurer  Dwight 
H.  Day,  Medical  Advisor,  Dr.  David 
Bovaird,  and  Mr.  T.  Guthrie  Speers. 


2 


THE  PHILIPPINE  MISSION 

Manila:  on  the  Island  of  Luzon;  occu- 
pied 1899.  Missionaries — Rev.  James  B. 
Rodgers,  D.D.,  and  Mrs.  Rodgers,  Rev. 
George  W.  Wright  and  Mrs.  Wright,  Miss 
Clyde  Bartholomew,  Mr.  Charles  A.  Gunn 
and  Mrs.  Gunn,  Miss  Emma  J.  Hannan, 
Miss  Julia  M.  Hodge. 

Iloilo:  on  the  Island  of  Panay;  occupied 
1900.  Missionaries  — J.  Andrew  Hall, 

M. D.,  and  Mrs.  Hall,  Rev.  Paul  Doltz  and 
Mrs.  Doltz. 

Dumaguete:  on  the  Island  of  Negros;  oc- 
cupied 1901.  Missionaries — Rev.  David  S. 
Hibbard,  Ph.D.,  and  Mrs.  Hibbard,  H.  W. 
Langheim,  M.D.,  and  Mrs.  Langheim,  Mr. 
Charles  A.  Glunz  and  Mrs.  Glunz,  Mr. 
James  P.  Eskridge  and  Mrs.  Eskridge,  Mr. 
Carlos  E.  Smith,  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Smith  and 
Mrs.  Smith,  Mr.  Christian  H.  Hanlin  and 
Mrs.  Hanlin,  Rev.  Herman  R.  Berger  and 
Mrs.  Berger. 

Cebu:  on  the  Island  of  Cebu;  occupied 
1902.  Missionaries — Rev.  Fred  Jansen  and 
Mrs.  Jansen,  Rev.  George  W.  Dunlap  and 
Mrs.  Dunlap,  Miss  Florence  C.  Heywang. 

Laguna:  P.  0.,  Santa  Cruz.,  on  Laguna 
de  Bay,  Luzon;  occupied  1903.  Mission- 
aries— Rev.  Charles  R.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  and 
Mrs.  Hamilton. 

Leyte:  P.  0.,  Tacloban,  on  the  Island  of 
Leyte;  occupied  1903.  Missionaries — Rev. 
Charles  E.  Rath  and  Mrs.  Rath,  Warren 
J.  Miller,  M.D.,  and  Mrs.  Miller. 

Albay:  P.  O.,  Albay,  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  Island  of  Luzon;  occupied  1903. 
Missionaries — Rev.  Roy  H.  Brown  and  Mrs. 
Brown. 

Tayabas:  P.  O.,  Lucena,  80  miles  south- 
west of  Manila,  on  the  Island  of  Luzon; 
occupied  1906.  Missionaries — Rev.  Charles 

N.  Magill,  D.D.,  and  Mrs.  Magill. 


Bohol:  P.  O.,  Tagbilaran,  on  the  Island 
of  Bohol;  occupied  1909.  Missionaries — 
Dr.  James  A.  Graham  and  Mrs.  Graham, 
Miss  Margaret  M.  Barnett. 

Camarines:  P.  O.,  Naga,  on  the  Island  of 
Luzon,  between  the  Provinces  of  Tayabas 
and  Albay;  occupied  1910.  Missionaries — 
Rev.  Kenneth  P.  MacDonald  and  Mrs.  Mac- 
Donald. 


4 


THE  TASK  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 

I.  AS  SEEN  BY  A LAYMAN 

The  achievements  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  in  the  Philippine  Islands, 
for  the  Filipino  people  are  probably  un- 
rivaled in  the  history  of  Colonial  develop- 
ment. The  wisdom  with  which  the  work 
has  been  planned,  the  skill  and  honesty 
with  which  it  has  been  executed,  and  the 
spirit  of  true  brotherliness  by  which  it  has 
everywhere  throughout  the  Islands  been 
pervaded,  cause  a thrill  of  pleasure  to 
spring  up  in  the  heart  of  a visiting  Am- 
erican. 

Great,  however,  as  has  been  the  leadership 
of  the  United  States  for  the  Philippines, 
and  true  as  has  been  the  spirit  of  officials 
and  teachers  toward  their  wards,  these  have 
not  been  adequate  to  meet  the  deepest  needs 
of  these  8,000,000  Malaysians.  No  wise 
person  ever  would  have  thought  that  ma- 
terial development,  education,  and  sanita- 
tion would  be  sufficient.  No  place  has  been 
made  for  religion,  and  without  God  in  the 
life  of  the  Nation,  consciously  apprehended, 
the  people  can  never  truly  live  and  pro- 
gress. 

So  Christians,  looking  at  the  situation, 
and  appreciating  the  awful  responsibility 
laid  upon  them,  have  gone  into  the  Islands 
for  the  purpose  of  leading  the  Filipino 
people  into  a knowledge  and  love  of  God. 

How  is  this  task  to  be  accomplished? 

I.  Evangelistic  Work 

The  supremely  important  purpose  to  be 
held  steadfastly  in  view  in  all  Christian 
missionary  work  is  the  establishment  and 
development  of  Church  organizations,  (a) 
5 


Because  the  church  congregation  is  the 
body  appointed  to  hold  and  disseminate  the 
truth  about  God  and  Christ,  (b)  It  can 
best  do  this  because  it  secures  the  co-oper- 
ation and  combination  of  individuals  and 
families,  the  latter  being  the  units  of  so- 
ciety. (c)  By  meeting  together  they  grow 
in  the  Christian  life  through  having  spirit- 
ual development  in  common.  (d)  The 
church  is  the  reservoir  out  of  which  must 
flow  the  life  which  must  be  consecrated  to 
the  evangelization  of  any  nation.  No 
amount  of  foreign  assistance  can  ever  evan- 
gelize a nation.  The  work  must  be  done 
by  the  nation  itself,  and  by  those  in  the 
nation  who  have  been  born  and  reared  in 
the  native  church.  The  church  is  the 
source  of  this  supply  and  without  the 
church  there  will  be  no  supply  and  nations 
will  not  be  evangelized.  Our  task  in  the 
Philippines  then,  is  too  establish  churches 
of  Filipino  people,  teaching  them  that  they 
must  be  self-supporting,  self-governing  and 
self-propagating. 

II.  Education 

But  churches  need  leadership,  their  own 
pastors  must  be  educated  and  trained  and 
made  capable  of  guiding  their  people.  More- 
over churches  will  be  built  up  all  the  more 
quickly  if  children  are  early  taught  in  the 
things  pertaining  to  the  Christian  life.  The 
600,000  children  of  the  Government  Schools 
learn  nothing  about  God  or  Christ  in  the 
schools.  The  Bible  is  forbidden  to  be 
taught  and  no  public  school  teacher  is  per- 
mitted to  hold  classes  in  Bible  instruction. 
The  task  of  the  missionaries,  therefore,  is 
to  (a)  provide  theological  training  for 
Christian  young  men,  that  they  may  be- 
come true  and  competent  ministers  for  the 
Filipino  churches.  (b)  To  get  into  per- 
sonal relationships  with  school  boys  and 
girls  in  such  ways  that  the  Bible  and  Chris- 
tian truth  can  be  taught  them.  This  is  ac- 
complished through  the  building  of  dormi- 
6 


tories  near  Government  Schools  where  boys 
and  girls  can  be  housed  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  missionary  and  where  instruc- 
tion can  be  freely  given.  Very  little  needs 
to  be  done  by  the  mission  in  secular  educa- 
tion, as  the  Government  assumes  the  re- 
sponsibility for  this  in  the  Islands. 

III.  Medical  Work 

All  good  medical  work  in  the  missions 
contributes  its  influence  toward  the  estab- 
lishing of  churches.  People  who  find  help 
and  healing  in  the  hospitals  are  made  into 
friends  of  the  missionaries.  Prejudice  is 
disarmed  and  instead  of  bigoted  criticism 
and  opposition  the  benefited  ones  are  ready 
for  counsel  and  advice  and  further  leading. 
So  it  is  that  under  a good  system  of  fol- 
low-up, patients  are  sought  out  and  brought 
into  church  fellowship  with  Christians. 
Often  they  could  not  be  gotten  hold  of  at 
all,  were  it  not  for  the  beneficent  work  of 
the  missionary  physician  and  his  wife,  and 
the  nurses.  At  Tagbilaran  a priest  had 
bitterly  denounced  the  hospital  to  his 
people,  but  a plague  coming  upon  him,  he 
himself  became  a patient  and  his  friend- 
ship was  won.  Our  task  for  the  medical 
work  is  to  see  that  our  missionary  phy- 
sicians have  good  hospitals,  that  they  are 
supplied  with  good  equipment,  and  that 
where  a home  for  nurses  is  required,  this  is 
provided. 

Evangelistic,  educational  and  medical 
work,  all  these  lines  of  endeavor  are  lead- 
ing the  Filipino  people  into  the  light  of  the 
free  Gospel  of  Christ,  centered  and  bound 
up  in  self-sustaining  churches. 

OUPv  TASK  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 
CALLS  FOR  (1)  PRAYER  FOR  THE 
PEOPLE  AND  ESPECIALLY  THAT  GOD 
WILL  SEND  FORTH  FILIPINO  LABOR- 
ERS INTO  THE  HARVEST,  (2)  FOR 
LIFE  TO  GO  OUT  TO  THE  ISLANDS 
TO  RADIATE  LIFE,  (3)  FOR  SACRI- 
7 


FICE  AND  DEVOTION  BY  THOSE  WHO 
REMAIN  AT  HOME  TO  THE  END 
THAT  GIFTS  WILL  BE  MADE  ADE- 
QUATE TO  THE  NEEDS  THAT  CALL 
LOUDLY  TO  US  FROM  THESE  OUR 
WARDS. 

Dwight  H.  Day, 

Treasurer  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 


8 


II.  AS  SEEN  BY  A STUDENT 

“Our  Government  would  not  be  a suc- 
cess unless  we  had  our  religion  in  it,  and 
so  it  will  be  in  the  future  also.”  Thus 
spoke  a young  Christian  Filipino  student. 
We  were  visiting  a school  on  the  island  of 
Panay.  A special  meeting  had  been  called 
to  welcome  Mr.  Speer,  during  which  some 
of  the  older  boys  spoke  briefly,  telling  what 
the  school  had  done  for  them.  The  fellow 
who  uttered  these  words,  was,  as  I remem- 
ber it,  the  president  of  the  senior  class. 
Now  as  he  neared  the  end  of  his  school 
years,  his  thoughts  turned,  as  did  those  of 
the  other  members  of  his  class,  towards  the 
part  that  each  one  of  them  hoped  to  play 
in  the  government  of  his  country  in  the 
years  that  were  to  come.  And  to  us  who 
listened,  it  was  inspiring  to  note  that  his 
dreams  of  political  activity  could  not  be 
dissociated  from  his  love  for  the  religion 
to  which  he  had  given  his  allegiance  dur- 
ing those  years  spent  in  a Christian  school. 

An  overwhelming  proportion  of  the  grad- 
uates of  the  high  schools  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  have  political  and  professional  am- 
bitions. Of  the  twenty-five  graduates  of 
one  provincial  high  school  about  which 
we  were  told,  all  but  two  took  up  the  study 
of  law  in  order  to  fit  themselves  to  take 
an  active  part  in  politics.  If  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Islands  is  in  the  future  to  be 
based  upon  Christian  principles,  if  its  aim 
as  a nation  is  to  be  the  upbuilding  of 
God’s  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  love 
on  earth,  then  must  the  youth  of  this  pres- 
ent generation  be  won  to  the  service  of 
Christ,  and  firmly  grounded  in  the  prin- 
ciples which  He  taught. 

Are  the  forces  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
coping  with  this  problem?  Not  for  a mo- 
ment would  I give  the  impression  that  this 
comprises  the  whole  of  our  duty  in  the 
Islands.  There  are  other  tasks  to  which 
the  church  must  turn  its  hand  and  its  brain. 
9 


But,  being  a student  myself,  this  is  the  part 
of  our  responsibility  which  appealed  to  me 
most  strongly  during  our  visit  last  summer. 

There  are  620,000  Filipino  boys  and  girls 
attending  school  to-day.  Between  1012  and 
1914  there  were  22,336  boys  graduated 
from  the  primary  grades  of  the  public 
schools.  These  are  potential  electors  for 
they  may  now  claim  suffrage  on  the  basis 
of  having  fulfilled  the  educational  require- 
ments of  the  law.  What  are  we  doing  for 
these  boys? 

We  have  a large  and  splendid  school  at 
Dumaguete  on  the  island  of  Negros,  where 
it  is  hoped  that  a thousand  students  may 
be  taken  care  of  each  year.  These  boys 
are  learning  Christianity.  What  they  re- 
ceive they  pass  on  to  others.  While  at 
Silliman  Institute  a letter  from  a mission- 
ary on  the  island  of  Mindanao  informed 
us  that  during  a recent  tour  of  the  north- 
ern coast  of  that  island  he  had  found  that 
though  no  missionary  was  at  work  there, 
the  whole  coast  had  been  evangelized  by 
the  boys  from  Silliman  returning  to  their 
homes  in  the  summer  and  telling  their 
friends  of  the  new  life  which  had  been 
given  them.  It  is  such  boys  as  these  who 
must  be  made  not  only  the  leaders  in  poli- 
tics but  also  the  ministers  of  the  Filipino 
church  if  the  future  of  the  Islands  is  to 
be  conserved  for  Christ.  Educated  leaders 
are  in  demand  everywhere,  but  as  yet  there 
are  all  too  few  of  them  in  the  Philippines. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  the  Pres- 
byterian cnurch  should  attempt  to  found 
more  of  such  schools.  For  one  of  the  finest 
things  that  our  government  has  accom- 
plished is  the  establishment  of  a splendid 
public  school  system.  It  is  true  that  these 
schools  have  been  carefully  non-religious 
just  as  they  are  in  the  United  States,  but 
in  connection  with  them  we  must  find  our 
greatest  opportunity  for  reaching  the  Fili- 
pino youth  with  a knowledge  of  Christ.  In 
each  provincial  capital  a high  school  is 
10 


located,  and  to  these  the  boys  and  girls 
come,  literally  by  the  hundreds.  The  great 
majority  of  them  thus  are  from  out  of 
town.  In  Tacloban,  which  stands  second 
in  schools  in  the  Islands,  95  per  cent,  of 
the  high  school  pupils  are  non-resident. 
They  live  wherever  they  can  find  accommo- 
dations, some  boarding  together  in  little 
groups,  others  scattered  far  and  wide  over 
the  city.  In  many  cases  their  lodgings  are 
unsanitary  or  the  light  for  study  is  bad, 
and  only  too  often  they  are  surrounded 
with  temptations  to  which  we  would  fear 
to  have  our  Christian  high  school  boys  sub- 
mitted. Could  there  be  any  greater  oppor- 
tunity offered  to  our  church  in  the  Philip- 
pine Islands? 

We  have  not  neglected  this  opportunity. 
In  nearly  every  station  that  we  visited, 
dormitories  had  already  been  built  or  were 
in  the  process  of  erection.  Here  the  boys 
find  clean,  well-lighted  rooms,  good  food, 
recreation  that  is  wholesome,  and  influ- 
ences that  are  Christian.  Sometimes  a 
young  missionary  lives  with  them.  In  every 
case  much  of  his  time  is  spent  in  their  so- 
ciety, playing  with  them,  helping  them  to 
study,  teaching  them  and  talking  with  them 
about  Christ.  Think  of  the  opportunity 
thus  offered  for  the  moulding  of  young 
lives.  It  is  a wonderful  work! 

But  how  little  of  it  there  really  is, — 
one  Christian  dormitory  containing  per- 
haps 40  boys,  in  a town  where  hundreds  are 
attending  school.  It  is  impossible  to  have 
a large  number  of  boys  in  a dormitory  for 
one  man  cannot  give  them  the  attention  that 
he  should.  THERE  MUST  BE  MORE 
DORMITORIES,  AND  MORE  MEN  TO 
CARE  FOR  THEM.  IS  THE  PRESBY- 
TERIAN CHURCH  EQUAL  TO  THIS 
TASK?  IS  SHE  FULLY  AWAKE  TO 
HER  OPPORTUNITY?  WHO  WILL 
HELP  TO  MAKE  HER  SO? 

Thomas  Guthrie  Speers, 

Asst.  Pas.  in  the  University  Place  Church , N.  Y.  City. 

11 


III.  AS  SEEN  BY  A PHYSICIAN 

Dean  Worcester  in  his  ‘‘Philippines  Past 
and  Present/’  tells  us  that  at  the  time  of 
the  occupation  of  the  islands  by  the  United 
States  troops  there  was  not  in  all  the 
islands  a surgeon  capable  of  opening  the 
abdominal  cavity  and  performing  an  ordi- 
nary abdominal  operation.  At  that  time 
also  contagious  diseases  ran  riot  everywhere 
throughout  the  islands.  As  many  as  40,000 
people  are  said  to  have  died  of  small-pox  in 
a single  year.  Plague,  cholera,  and  the  like 
were  frequent  invaders.  The  meaning  of 
hygiene  and  sanitation  was  practically  un- 
known. Outside  Manila  and  the  larger  cit- 
ies there  were  few  physicians,  and  large 
numbers  of  the  people  were  altogether  with- 
out medical  attendance.  Eighteen  years  of 
hard,  intelligent  work  on  the  part  of  the 
authorities  have  changed  all  this.  A year 
ago  the  great  San  Lazaro  Hospital,  which 
is  expected  to  care  for  all  the  cases  of  dan- 
gerous contagious  disease  originating  in 
Manila  and  its  environs  in  mid-summer, 
housed  only  a few  diphtheria-carriers  and 
a group  of  lepers,  the  latter  there  only 
pending  their  removal  to  the  leper  colony 
on  the  Island  of  Culion.  All  the  virulent 
diseases  which  had  so  long  ravaged  the 
country  and  made  Manila  famous  as  a dis- 
ease center  had  been  brought  under  more 
or  less  complete  control.  Manila  and  its 
surroundings  are  rapidly  approaching  in 
healthfulness  the  standards  of  the  aver- 
age American  city.  Furthermore,  there 
has  been  established  in  Manila  a univer- 
sity with  a medical  school  so  well  equip- 
ped and  staffed  as  to  rank  in  Class  A of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  the 
group  to  which  our  best  home  schools  be- 
long, and  that  school  is  now  annually  turn- 
ing out  a number  of  thoroughly  educated 
medical  practitioners.  The  Philippines 
General  Hospital,  which  is  part  of  the  uni- 
versity organization,  contains  350  beds  and 
has  an  exceptionally  well-planned  and  or- 
12 


ganized  out-patient  department.  Both  hos- 
pital and  clinic  are  equipped  and  conducted 
in  a manner  to  call  forth  most  sincere  ad- 
miration. So  long  as  these  institutions  are 
kept  at  the  high  standard  they  have  al- 
ready attained,  the  future  of  medical  edu- 
cation in  the  islands  seems  assured  and 
before  many  years  the  Philippines  should 
have  a thoroughly  educated  native  medi- 
cal profession. 

In  the  provincial  capitals  the  government 
has  placed  sanitary  officers  and  established 
hospitals.  Everywhere  throughout  the 
islands  hygiene  is  being  taught  and  works 
of  sanitation  carried  on  by  the  gov- 
ernment representatives  so  thoroughly  that 
from  the  viewpoint  of  health  the  condi- 
tions have  been  revolutionized.  And  yet 
the  work  is  not  all  done  by  any  means.  A 
large  part  of  the  population,  especially  the 
so-called  non-Christian  tribes,  is  practically 
without  medical  care. 

Just  how  many  physicians  there  were  in 
the  islands  at  the  time  of  the  occupation  is 
not  known,  certainly  not  enough  to  begin  to 
care  for  all  the  people,  even  if  they  had 
been  thoroughly  trained  men,  and  very  few 
of  them  could  make  that  claim.  In  1913 
the  Board  of  Examiners,  the  official  licens- 
ing body  of  the  islands,  granted  licenses  to 
60  practitioners  and  to  15  cirujanos  minis- 
trantes,  the  latter  a curious  survival  of  the 
ancient  regime  representing  men  who  have 
spent  two  years  in  medical  study  in  the  old 
University  of  St.  Thomas  and  are  not  fit- 
ted to  pass  the  examinations  for  license 
and  yet  desire  to  exercise  some  of  the  ele- 
mentarv  functions  of  the  physician.  In 
1914  the  Board  licensed  35  practitioners  and 
11  of  the  second  grade;  in  1915,  53  prac- 
titioners and  7 of  the  second  grade.  The 
United  States,  with  approximately  12 
times  the  population  of  the  Philippines,  in 
1914  licensed  5,797  practitioners,  or  160 
times  as  many  as  qualified  in  the  islands 
m that  year.  It  would  be  safe  to  say  that 
13 


we  have  at  least  10  physicians  for  every  one 
in  the  islands.  Perhaps  we  have  too  many, 
but  it  is  certain  that  the  Philippines  have 
too  few.  The  wild  tribes  have  practically 
not  been  touched  and,  as  Worcester  says, 
they  offer  a rich  field  for  missionary  effort. 

Just  how  much  has  our  church  done  to 
meet  these  needs  of  the  people  of  the 
islands?  One  of  the  first  missionaries  sent 
out  by  our  Board  was  Dr.  J.  Andrew  Hall. 
Dr.  Hall  located  at  Iloilo,  on  the  Island 
of  Panay,  and  there  with  the  co-operation 
of  the  Baptist  Board  has  developed  a hos- 
pital, which  is  one  of  the  outstanding  fea- 
tures of  the  mission  work  in  the  islands. 

Each  board  is  supposed  to  be  represented 
by  a physician  and  an  American  trained 
nurse,  but  several  years  ago  the  Baptist 
physician,  Dr.  Thomas,  was  obliged  to  re- 
turn to  the  home-land,  and  last  year  the 
nurse  representing  our  Board  resigned,  so 
that  at  present  the  work  is  being  carried 
on  by  Dr.  Hall  and  Miss  Benedict,  of  the 
Baptist  Mission.  So  successful  has  the 
work  of  the  hospital  been  that  it  commands 
the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  people  of 
Iloilo  and  its  environs,  and  the  neighboring 
province  of  Occidental  Negros.  A consider- 
able enlargement  and  improvement  of  the 
equipment  of  the  hospital  are  planned,  and 
Dr.  Hall  is  confident  that  the  funds  for 
these  purposes  can  readily  be  obtained  from 
the  field.  The  hospital  takes  pride  in  the 
fact  that  the  first  attempt  to  train  the 
Filipino  young  women  as  nurses  was  made 
within  its  walls.  The  training  school  is  now 
an  important  part  of  !the  work  of  the 
hospital. 

At  Dumaguete  in  connection  with  the 
Silliman  Institute,  Dr.  Langheim  has  car- 
ried on  another  successful  medical  mission 
of  the  Board.  The  small  hospital  origi- 
nally established  beside  the  institute,  has 
recently  been  replaced  by  a modern  build- 
ing of  concrete  construction,  capable  of 
caring  for  40  patients.  This  institution  is 
14 


invaluable  as  an  adjunct  of  Silliman  Insti- 
tute, with  its  more  than  700  students,  and 
with  its  increased  facilities  should  be  able 
to  exert  a powerful  influence  over  the  whole 
province  of  Oriental  Negros. 

At  Tagbilaran,  on  the  Island  of  Bohol, 
Dr.  Graham,  with  the  aid  of  Miss  Barnet, 
an  American  trained  nurse,  conducts  a 
medical  mission  centering  about  a small 
hospital.  This  is  a comparatively  new  sta- 
tion, but  the  work  gives  promise  of  influ- 
ence over  the  whole  island.  Another  new 
station  has  recently  been  opened  at  Tac- 
loban,  on  the  Island  of  Leyte,  by  Dr.  Miller, 
who  is  working  enthusiastically  among  the 
people  of  the  town  and  of  as  wide  an  area 
of  the  country  round  about  it  as  can  be 
reached  by  the  aid  of  a motorcycle.  Down 
on  the  southeastern  corner  of  Luzon,  in 
the  city  of  Albay,  Dr.  Robert  Carter  was 
stationed  for  a brief  nine  months,  but  two 
years  ago  he  was  forced  to  return  home 
on  account  of  illness.  During  the  short 
period  of  his  service  in  the  citv  he  made 
a deep  impression  upon  the  people,  so  that 
he  is  gratefully  remembered  and  his  return 
longed  for. 

This  brief  summary  of  the  conditions  pre- 
vailing in  the  islands  and  the  work  under- 
taken by  our  Board,  gives  indications  of 
the  duty  that  rests  upon  us.  In  the  first 
place  we  need  to  strengthen  the  work  al- 
ready in  hand.  The  prime  need  is  an  unat- 
tached physician  who  can  be  used  to  carry 
on  the  work  in  any  station  from  which 
the  regular  incumbent  is  absent,  whether 
on  furlough  or  for  any  other  reason.  Since 
furloughs  are  necessary,  not  only  for  health 
but  to  permit  the  physicians  to  keep  abreast 
of  the  progress  of  medicine  and  maintain 
their  enthusiasm  for  their  work,  and  since 
sickness  will  come  from  time  to  time,  it  is 
absolutely  essential  to  the  proper  conduct 
of  the  work  of  the  Board  to  have  at  least 
one  physician  in  a position  to  act  as  a sub- 
stitute. 


15 


Every  institution  in  the  field  is  also  in 
need  of  improved  equipment.  As  already 
stated  in  connection  with  the  Union  Hos- 
pital of  Iloilo,  this  need  can  in  some  cases 
be  met  by  contributions  from  the  field.  In 
other  instances  the  aid  must  come  from 
home.  In  one  way  or  the  other  the  need 
must  be  met.  This  is  one  of  the  great 
problems  of  medical  mission  work.  Hos- 
pitals at  home  call  for  heavy  and  increas- 
ing outlay.  If  medical  mission  work  is  to 
worthily  represent  the  gospel  it  preaches, 
it  must  keep  step  with  progress  and  con- 
duct its  work  efficiently.  That  can  only 
be  done  where  funds  are  available  for  the 
renewal  and  improvement  of  equipment  and 
is  specially  needed  in  the  Philippines  be- 
cause of  the  excellence  of  the  institutions 
provided  by  the  government. 

The  second  great  need  is  for  medical 
missionaries  in  stations  where  there  are 
none  at  present.  One  is  needed  at  Albay 
to  replace  Dr.  Carter.  Mr.  Hamilton  is 
eager  for  the  aid  of  a medical  man  at 
Tayabas,  and  Mr.  McDonald  makes  the 
same  plea  for  Naga.  Can  these  pleas  be 
answered? 

Let  not  the  reader  think  that  there  is 
any  confusion  as  to  the  prime  purpose  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Philippine 
Islands.  We  have  gone  there  to  help  the 
people  of  the  archipelago.  We  devoutly  be- 
lieve that  we  shall  help  them  most  by  giv- 
ing them  to  know  the  faith  which  means 
salvation  to  us.  But  the  Christian  message 
has  always  included  healing  for  the  body 
as  well  as  the  soul.  Dr.  Rogers  has  weil 
said  that  the  representatives  of  mission 
boards  have  not  been  the  only  missionaries 
in  the  islands.  To  make  of  the  pestilential 
moat  that  formerly  bounded  the  walls  of 
Manila  a healthful  park  and  playground, 
to  drill  artesian  wells  and  thus  provide  the 
people  with  safe  drinking  water,  these 
works  of  beneficence  are  surely  Christian 
service.  Wherever  there  are  sick  and  suf- 
16 


fering  men  and  women  to  whom  we  may 
lend  help,  there  is  a proper  field  for  mis- 
sionary effort. 

And  finally  there  are  the  wild  tribes,  a 
million  men,  women  and  children  without 
the  gospel  and  without  medical  care!  The 
government  has  begun  efforts  for  some  of 
these  people.  The  Episcopal  church  under 
the  inspiring  leadership  of  Bishop  Brent 
has  also  undertaken  work  in  some  places 
among  them.  The  great  body  of  them  re- 
mains untouched.  CAN  OUR  CHURCH 
AFFORD  TO  LEAVE  THIS  FIELD  TO 
OTHERS?  DOUBTLESS  THE  WORK 
WILL  BE  ATTENDED  WITH  DIFFI- 
CULTIES AND  PERILS,  AND  DOUBT- 
LESS FOR  MANY  YEARS  THE  RE- 
TURNS WILL  BE  SMALL,  BUT  THE 
CHALLENGE  TO  NOBLE,  SACRI- 
FICIAL SERVICE  IS  THERE.  CAN 
OUR  CHURCH  NOT  ANSWER  IT? 

David  Bovaird,  M.D. 

Medical  Advisor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 


17 


IV.  AS  SEEN  BY  A SECRETARY 

It  is  easy  to  learn  the  names  of  the  main 
islands  of  the  Philippines,  and  to  picture  to 
oneself  their  general  geographical  relation- 
ship. At  the  north  and  the  south  are  the 
two  largest  islands,  Luzon  and  Mindanao, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  hear  almost  every- 
one who  knows  these  islands  comparatively, 
speak  with  chief  enthusiasm  about  Min- 
danao as  the  greatest  and  most  attractive 
and  valuable  of  them  all.  Between  Luzon 
and  Mindanao,  in  a row  stretching  from 
west  to  east  are  the  islands  of  Panay, 
Negros,  Cebu,  Bohol,  Leyte,  and  Samar. 
The  Spaniards  discovered  them  from  east 
to  west,  but  in  their  present  development 
and  commercial  expansion,  they  can  be  al- 
most ranged  in  the  contrary  order. 

A New  Day  in  Manila 

At  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  old 
walled  city  of  Manila,  beyond  the  sunken 
gardens  which  were  once  the  moat  of  the 
city  and  near  the  little  part  of  Luneta, 
looking  out  upon  the  sea,  stand  two  monu- 
ments. One  is  in  memory  of  the  two  great 
forces  which  shaped  the  life  and  history 
of  the  Philippine  Islands  for  four  hundred 
years.  The  other  is  in  memory  of  Rizal, 
the  Filipino  natriot,  shot  as  a revolutionist 
in  1896,  whose  protests  against  the  ancient 
order  of  injustice  were  the  forerunners  of 
the  new  day  that  has  dawned.  The  Amer- 
ican Government  reared  them  in  candid 
recognition  of  all  that  has  been  worthy 
in  the  past,  and  in  fearless  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  liberty. 

Our  interest  is  deepest,  of  course,  in  the 
contribution  which  evangelical  Christianity 
has  been  making  toward  this  great  praise- 
worthy advancement  of  a worthv  and  lov- 
able people,  and  we  have  studied  as  was  our 
business,  the  agencies  and  forces  through 
which  the  free  and  living  Gospel,  borne 
by  the  evangelical  missions,  is  operating, 
the  Episcopal,  Methodist  and  Christian  hos- 
18 


pitals,  the  Presbyterian,  Episcopal  and 
Methodist  dormitories  to  provide  the  moral 
helps  and  sympathies  needed  by  the  young 
men  and  women  crowding  the  higher  schools 
of  the  capital,  the  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary, on  which  Methodists,  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  Christians,  United  Brethren,  each 
recognize  themselves  to  be  a component 
part,  the  training  schools  for  Bible  women 
of  the  Methodists  and  the  Presbyterians. 

The  last  Sunday  evening  of  our  stay  in 
the  Philippines,  I spoke  at  a union  meeting 
of  the  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  churches, 
in  the  Tondo  District  of  the  city.  The  large 
church  and  Sunday  School  room  were 
packed  to  the  walls,  and  the  doorways 
jammed  with  listeners.  As  I looked  out 
over  the  multitude  of  eager  and  reverent 
worshipers,  I could  not  but  contrast  this 
day  with  the  day  that  I passed  by  the  Phil- 
ippine Islands  through  the  China  Sea  eigh- 
teen years  ago.  Then  there  was  not  an 
evangelical  church  in  the  island,  now  there 
are  nearly  five  hundred.  Then,  I suppose 
there  was  not  a Filipino  who  was  a member 
of  an  evangelical  church.  That  evening  I 
was  looking  out  over  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  them,  and  knew  that  for  every  one  hun- 
dred in  the  room  that  night  there  were  ten 
thousand  more  throughout  the  islands.  Who 
can  forecast  the  fruitage  of  the  future 
when  the  tides  of  life  which  are  just  be- 
ginning to  flow,  have  risen  to  their  flood? 

Through  the  Cocoanut  Groves  of  Laguna 
and  Tayabas 

Scattered  through  these  two  provinces 
is  some  of  our  most  fruitful  and  encourag- 
ing work  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  In 
Laguna,  with  its  population  of  156,000  and 
area  of  629  square  miles  we  have  eighteen 
congregations  in  sixteen  towns,  six  of  which 
are  regularly  organized  churches,  with 
elders  and  deacons.  The  church  in  San 
Pablo,  like  many  of  our  churches  now,  has 
a young  pastor  trained  in  the  Union  Theo- 
19 


logical  Seminary  in  Manila  conducted  by 
the  Methodists,  the  United  Brethren  and 
ourselves.  The  graduates  are  active,  vigor- 
ous young  men,  some  of  them  with  sur- 
prisingly good  theological  libraries  in  Eng- 
lish. There  is  a great  deal  needing  to  be 
done  in  the  development  of  methods  of  edu- 
cation of  the  church  membership  in  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible  and  in  active  work,  and 
most  of  our  Filipino  churches  are  very 
backward  in  the  matter  of  self-support, 
but  the  Union  Seminary,  having  the  train- 
ing of  all  the  men  of  these  different  denomi- 
nations, has  also  the  opportunity  of  send- 
ing almost  the  entire  evangelical  ministry 
of  the  Philippine  Islands  out  to  its  work 
with  right  ideals  and  true  spirit. 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  beginnings 
of  the  work  in  the  different  congregations 
and  to  see  how  almost  invariably  the  first 
seed  was  brought  by  some  lay  Christian. 
The  work  at  Bay,  the  town  from  which  the 
lake  takes  its  name,  was  begun  by  a road 
foreman  who  was  a member  of  the  Tondo 
Church  in  Manila  and  who,  removing  to 
Bay,  at  once  began  talking  with  his  friends 
and  acquaintances  concerning  his  faith  in 
Christ,  and  holding  small  meetings  at  which 
he  preached  the  Gospel  as  well  as  he  could. 
How  can  we  ever  hope  to  evangelize  the 
world  unless  we  do  it  in  this  way?  If 
only  every  professing  Christian  man  and 
woman  who  has  ever  gone  out  from  Ameri- 
ca or  Great  Britain  to  the  foreign  field, 
on  business  or  for  pleasure,  had  gone  with 
this  Christian  obligation  to  spread  the  Gos- 
pel, we  should  have  double  the  fruitage 
from  missionary  work  which  we  now  have. 

The  Tayabas  province  surrounds  the 
Laguna  on  the  south  and  east.  It  has  a 
population  of  about  250,000  people,  and 
one  specially  encouraging  feature  in  its 
work  is  the  report  by  the  native  ministers 
of  a larger  number  of  people  in  the  Sunday 
Schools  than  in  the  church  membership. 
Lucena,  the  capital  of  the  province,  is  a 
20 


pleasant  town  on  the  west  coast  of  the 
island.  Wherever  we  have  gone  in  the 
islands,  we  have  visited  the  high  schools 
and  intermediate  schools,  and  have  accepted 
every  invitation  that  offered  to  speak  to 
them.  One  could  not  find  more  attentive, 
responsive  and  enthusiastic  audiences.  And 
here  at  Lucena  they  seemed  specially  open 
to  such  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  duty  and 
character,  as  was  appropriate  to  make  in 
a government  school.  On  the  wall  near 
the  piano  in  the  main  school  room,  hung 
the  motto,  “ Think  the  truth,  speak  the 
truth,  do  the  truth.” 

In  Southern  Luzon 

One  missionary  is  alone  in  charge  of  the 
work  in  the  two  provinces  in  Albay  with  a 
population  of  350,000  and  of  Sorsogon  with 
a population  of  150,000.  Two  ordained  Fil- 
ipino ministers  and  three  evangelists  are 
working  with  him  in  the  eight  congrega- 
tions of  Albay,  the  seven  of  Sorsogon  and 
their  fifteen  Sunday  Schools. 

We  visited  the  congregations  at  three  of 
the  municipios  outside  of  Albay.  At  Guina- 
batan  it  was  the  annual  Sunday  fiesta  of 
the  saint  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of 
the  town,  and  the  people  in  their  best 
clothes  were  gathered  as  at  a country  fair 
at  home.  It  was  a strong  contrast  that 
was  presented  to  us  when  we  turned  from 
this  innocent  but  non-religious  revelry,  with 
a church  as  its  center,  to  go  into  the  neat 
and  simple  chapel,  built  by  the  people  them- 
selves, and  filled  with  quiet  and  intelligent 
worshipers  reading  their  Bibles  and  sing- 
ing their  hymns  with  no  less  happiness  in 
their  hearts,  than  the  revelers  in  the  old 
church  and  in  the  village  square,  but  with 
a quite  different  conception  of  religion  and 
of  what  it  is  that  gave  their  sainthood  to 
the  saints  when  they  lived  on  earth,  and 
gives  them  joy  now  where  they  live  in  God. 
A few  days  later,  on  a week-day  night 
when  they  thought  it  would  be  appropriate, 
21 


the  church  at  Camalig  showed  that  even 
though  they  were  evangelisticals,  they  had 
a fiesta  spirit,  too,  and  as  we  approached 
their  church,  welcomed  us  with  the  full 
tumult  of  the  municipal  band,  loaned  for 
the  occasion  by  the  Presidente  of  the  town. 

In  Albay  itself,  the  capital  of  the  pro- 
vince, the  work  opens  up  a limitless  oppor- 
tunity. There  is  a battalion  of  American 
soldiers  here  without  a chaplain.  There  is 
a Filipino  church  in  the  city  with  out- 
stretching missionary  efforts  in  Legaspi 
and  Deraga.  The  provincial  high  school 
is  in  Albay,  and  here  hundreds  of  earnest 
boys  and  girls  come  up  from  all  over  the 
province.  There  is  a little  American  com- 
munity also  to  be  shepherded,  personal  work 
with  all  classes  of  people  to  be  done,  and  the 
duties  of  an  apostle  and  bishop  to  be  met, 
as  far  as  a modern  missionary  can  meet 
them  in  these  two  wide  provinces. 

Immediately  to  the  north  of  Albay  and 
Sorsogon,  lies  the  province  of  the  two  Cam- 
arines.  A large  province  full  of  forests, 
with  many  sections  unreached  as  yet  by 
the  wonderful  system  of  roads  which  the 
American  administration  is  spreading  over 
the  Islands.  Much  of  the  itinerating  has 
still  to  be  done  on  foot  or  by  native  boats; 
but  by  itineration,  by  the  work  of  the  young 
Filipino  evangelists,  through  the  provincial 
high  school  in  Naga,  and  the  boys  who 
have  come  up  to  the  school,  by  a^  little 
chapel  in  the  heart  of  Naga  into  which  the 
students  thronged,  and  the  doors  and  win- 
dows of  which  were  packed  with  outside 
listeners  when  we  were  there — the  seed  has 
been  sown  far  and  wide  across  the  fields 
and  the  mountains  of  the  province,  and  the 
seed  has  life  in  it  and  a promise  upon  it. 
“It  shall  not  return  unto  me  void”  is  the 
word  that  cannot  be  broken.  Nowhere  in 
the  Philippine  Islands,  however,  has  it 
seemed  harder  to  win  the  women ; but 
surely  if  anyone  can  do  it  by  tact  and  love, 
our  missionary  will  succeed. 

22 


Christ  in  Cebu 

The  Island  of  Cebu  is  one  of  the  most 
populous  though  not  most  prosperous  of 
all  the  Philippines.  In  the  old  times  it  was 
one  of  the  most  lawless  and  disorderly,  and 
its  mountain  valleys  were  hotbeds  of  insur- 
rection in  the  early  days  of  the  American 
occupation.  Now  it  is  one  of  the  most  tran- 
quil, happy,  well-contented  of  all  the  pro- 
vinces. It  has  suffered  from  drought  and 
famine  and  grass-hopper  plagues,  but  the 
good  government  and  complete  suppression 
of  brigandage,  the  increase  of  the  cul- 
tivated areas,  the  security  of  the  people  in 
the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  their  crops, 
the  development  of  beautiful  roads,  the 
opening  of  a railroad  running  a good  part 
of  the  length  of  the  island,  the  increase  of 
enlightenment  and  the  growth  of  true  re- 
ligion, have  been  some  of  the  influences 
which  have  spread  a spirit  of  peace  and 
happiness  throughout  the  island. 

And  if  any  American  thinks  meanly  of 
his  country,  or  doubts  the  value  of  the  work 
it  has  done  in  the  Philippines  he  should 
make  this  visit  to  Cebu,  for  he  could  not 
visit  the  island  without  an  overwhelming 
realization  of  the  beneficence  of  the  work 
which  our  nation  has  done  here. 

The  itinerating  work  of  the  station  many 
years  ago,  in  the  insurrecto  days,  resulted 
in  congregations  which  grew  up  and  are 
scattered  from  one  end  of  the  long  island 
to  the  other.  One  day  of  our  visit  was 
spent  back  in  the  mountains,  with  one  of 
the  hill  country  congregation.  The  beau- 
tiful little  chapel  which  the  people  had 
built  unaided,  was  on  a high  hill  looking 
out  to  the  distant  sea. 

It  was  a weekday,  but  the  people  had 
left  their  work  and  come  from  their 
little  farms  scattered  among  the  hills 
the  men,  women  and  children  all  to- 
gether. Ten  years  ago  these  people, 
half  fed,  cultivating  only  little  patches 
of  ground,  dressed  in  rags  and  naked 
23 


to  the  waist,  were  dwelling  on  the 
edge  of  life.  Now  with  the  country  at 
peace,  and  sure  of  their  property,  they  are 
cultivating  eight  or  ten  times  the  soil  they 
formerly  cultivated,  and  none  of  our  Sun- 
day congregations  at  home  could  appear 
with  more  dignity  and  propriety,  or  look 
more  attractive  than  this  congregation  at 
Cabangahan.  We  had  meetings  all  morning 
and  afternoon,  and  nowhere  at  home  would 
one  find  more  eager,  responsive  listeners 
than  these  were,  or  hearts  that  answered 
with  more  overflowing  joy  to  the  appeal 
of  Christian  faith  and  love.  Missionary 
unbelief  or  indifference  is  simply  impos- 
sible to  one  who  has  seen  the  reality  of  the 
work  as  we  have  seen  it  amid  such  true  and 
simple-hearted  Christians  as  these. 

On  the  Island  of  Leyte 

In  Leyte,  the  new  tides  of  life  are  stir- 
ring. Between  eight  and  nine  hundred  boys 
and  girls  have  poured  up  from  all  over  the 
province  to  the  provincial  high  and  inter- 
mediate school  in  Tacloban,  and  over  two 
hundred  more  have  come  up  to  the  trades 
school.  The  province  claims  more  first  class 
school  buildings  than  any  other  province, 
and  between  a third  and  a half  of  all  its 
children  of  school  age  are  in  school.  Ten 
evangelical  congregations  have  sprung  up 
along  the  whole  length  of  the  island  and  the 
work  in  the  provincial  capital  among  the 
high  school  pupils  is  scattering,  as  it  is  in 
every  province  where  we  have  missionaries, 
an  intelligent  and  sympathetic  interest  in 
the  Bible  and  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible 
through  all  the  municipalities  and  out  into 
many  of  the1  barrios,  or  villages  of  the 
province. 

The  happy  arrangements  of  missionary 
comity  which  prevail  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  have  assigned  the  islands  of  Leyte, 
Bohol  and  Cebu  and  one-half  of  Negros 
and  a little  less  than  half  of  Panay,  to  the 
Presbyterian  missionaries.  In  Tacloban 
24 


only  the  church  has  been  completed  as  yet. 
The  hospital  is  to  come  next,  and  no  one 
could  see  the  missionary’s  clinic  without  ap- 
preciating the  necessity  for  it.  The  wait- 
ing patients  were  packed  together  on  the 
front  porch  of  his  house,  some,  of  them 
were  cared  for  there,  while  others  were  led 
through  the  living-room  into  the  dispensary 
and  operating  room  adjoining  the  doctor’s 
bedroom.  Under  the  house,  one  large  room 
was  filled  in  part  with  patients,  in  part 
with  high  school  boys  using  the  room  as  a 
dormitory.  A specially  serious  case  was 
cared  for  in  a temporary  room  boarded  in 
under  the  front  steps. 

The  foolish  things  common  in  South 
America  and  in  the  earlier  years  here,  such 
as  jeers  on  the  street  at  Protestants,  and 
stones  on  the  chapel  roof,  are  still  met  with 
in  Tacloban.  But  all  this  is  wearing  away. 
One  of  the  very  priests  who  still  publicly 
warns  his  people  against  the  Protestant 
doctrine  is  privately  the  Protestant  Doctor’s 
patient.  And  the  old  blindness  and  bigotry 
are  gone  forever  from  the  minds  of  the 
eager  and  responsive  boys  and  girls  who, 
away  from  their  homes,  many  of  them 
living  in  lonely  little  groups  in  cheap  board- 
ing places  throughout  the  town,  are  wide 
open  to  friendship  and  interested  in  all 
that  they  hear,  when  they  come  to  the 
evangelical  church. 

Here  as  everywhere  we  have  seen  the 
clean  and  efficient  work  which  the  American 
government  has  done  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Philippine  Islands.  Services  like  these 
penetrate  deep,  but  they  cannot  penetrate 
deeply  enough.  Something  more  is  needed 
in  the  regeneration  and  mastery  of  life, 
which  only  Jesus  Christ  can  supply. 

A Joint  Mission  Field 

This  island  of  Panay  is  a joint  mission 
field,  occupied  by  our  missionaries  and  by 
the  northern  Baptists.  There  are  three 
25 


provinces  in  the  island.  One  of  these  is 
cared  for  wholly  by  the  Baptists,  another 
wholly  by  ourselves,  and  the  third  and 
largest  containing  the  city  of  Iloilo,  is 
divided  between  the  two.  Our  part  of  the 
population  of  750,000  is  perhaps  250,000 
or  300,000  and  the  evangelization  of  this 
population  scattered  over  a large  area  in 
small  towns  and  little  barrios;  bur  share 
in  the  maintenance  of  a union  mission 
hospital  and  dormitory  for  boys  attending 
the  government  high  school  in  Iloilo,  a 
necessary  and  fruitful  ministry  to  the 
American  population,  and  the  establishment 
and  supervision  of  day  schools  in  districts 
which  the  government  has  not  been  able  to 
touch,  fall  upon  two  men  with  their  wives 
and  one  nurse  in  the  hospital.  They  could 
not  care  for  this  work  in  the  effective  and 
fruitful  way  in  which  they  are  caring  for 
it,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  they  work 
with  a half  a dozen  efficient  Filipino  pastors 
and  evangelists,  who  with  them,  constitute 
the  Presbytery  of  Panay,  one  of  the  three 
Presbyteries  which  make  up  the  indeoend- 
ent  Filipino  Synod  in  which  the  ambitions 
and  efforts  of  the  mission  and  the  natural 
desires  of  the  Filipinos  have  secured  for  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  the  island,  complete 
self-government.  The  action  of  our  home 
church  in  promoting  this  independence  of 
the  church  in  the  Philippines  has  been 
justified. 

We  carry  on  with  the  Baptist  as  has  been 
said,  a union  hospital  and  a union  dormi- 
tory for  government  students  who  come 
from  all  over  the  province.  We  have  a 
most  happy  distribution  of  responsibility 
which  enables  us  to  cover  the  whole  field  of 
the  island  as  well  as  can  be  done  with  an 
inadequate  staff  of  missionaries.  We  send 
our  boys  and  girls  and  Bible  women  to 
the  educational  institutions  of  the  Bap- 
tists at  Jaro,  and  they  make  equally  free 
use  of  our  institution  at  Dumaguete  which 
is  in  the  eastern  half  of  this  Visayan 
26 


group  of  islands,  of  which  Panay  is  the 
westermost. 

The  Union  Hospital  is  the  only  hospital 
in  Iloilo,  except  St.  Paul’s,  conducted  by 
the  Roman  Catholics,  but  without  an  Am- 
erican medical  missionary. 

Life  after  life  has  passed  beneath  the 
influence  of  the  missionary  in  the  hospital, 
to  emerge  wdth  health  and  strength  re- 
stored, and  also  with  character  regener- 
ated, and  with  a new  and  living  Christian 
faith. 

This  young  Filipino  life  is  all  eager  and 
plastic  now.  In  a heavy  storm  which  put 
out  the  electric  lights,  a crowd  of  students 
came  to  the  chapel  and  listened  with  an 
attention  as  silent  as  death  and  as  eager 
as  life,  to  what  we  had  to  say  to  them 
about  character,  and  not  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  material  wealth,  as  con- 
stituting the  true  strength  and  power  of 
nations.  Most  of  the  time  the  meeting  was 
in  absolute  darkness,  and  Mr.  Moody’s  old 
lesson  that  character  is  what  a man  is  in 
the  dark,  came  home,  I think,  with  real 
meaning  to  many  of  those  warm-hearted, 
attractive  Filipino  lads. 

A Fountain  of  Living  Waters 

Silliman  Institute  at  Dumaguete  has  be- 
come a fountain  of  living  water  for  all  the 
central  and  southern  Philippine  Islands. 
The  morning  of  the  day  of  our  arrival, 
it  enrolled  699  students,  and  two  more 
came  in  during  the  day.  Three  hundred 
boys,  eager  to  come  to  work  their  way,  had 
to  be  refused,  as  the  school  has  no  room 
for  more ; and  cannot,  without  extension, 
enabling  it  to  take  more  pay-students,  or 
endowment,  increasing  its  resources,  carry- 
ing the  burden  of  these  hundreds  of  addi- 
tional working  students.  A movement  for 
enlargement  has  met  with  enthusiastic  sup- 
port among  the  parents  of  the  boys,  and 
those  fathers  who  are  eager  to  make  it  pos- 
sible for  their  sons  who  have  not  been  able 
27 


to  get  in  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  insti- 
tute. Fifty  thousand  pesos,  nearly,  have 
been  pledged  and  the  missionaries  hope  to 
raise  $50,000  gold  in  the  islands  them- 
selves, which  they  ask  the  home  church 
to  duplicate  with  another  $50,000. 

Silliman  aims  to  be  a sort  of  combination 
of  the  Mt.  Hermon  School,  Hampton  In- 
stitute and  Williams  College  for  the 
Philippines,  and  has  already  laid  its  hold 
upon  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the 
islands.  It  is  one  of  the  four  institutions 
whose  arts  degree  is  recognized  by  the  Uni- 
versity in  Manila.  The  other  three  are  two 
Roman  Catholic  Schools  and  the  Arts  de- 
partment of  the  University  itself.  Wher- 
ever one  goes  through  the  islands,  he  hears 
only  praise  of  the  work  of  the  Institute 
as  a school,  and  yet  more  of  its  influence 
on  manliness  and  character.  It  is  beauti- 
ful to  see  the  pride  of  the  province  of  Ori- 
ental Negros  in  the  Institution,  and  the 
good  will  of  the  insular  educational  authori- 
ties toward  it.  One  of  the  most  inspiring 
meetings  that  we  attended  on  this  trip, 
was  held  in  the  great  hall  of  the  insti- 
tute. Five  hundred  students  from  the  pub- 
lic high  school  and  lower  grades,  marched 
in  a body  from  their  own  buildings  at  the 
other  end  of  the  town.  All  the  leading 
officials  of  the  province  came,  the  Governor, 
the  ex-Governor,  the  Treasurer  and  three 
members  of  the  assembly,  the  local  judge 
and  the  land  holders  who  from  the  begin- 
ning have  welcomed  the  school  and  re- 
joiced in  it. 

On  our  way  home  from  visits  to  the  out- 
lying chapels,  which  cheered  our  hearts 
and  in  which  we  sought  to  cheer  the  hearts 
of  others,  we  passed,  just  before  reaching 
Dumaguete,  through  the  village  of  Sibulan 
with  its  little  chapel  conducted  by  its  lead- 
ing elder  who  is  also  the  presidente  of 
the  village,  and  who  with  his  wife,  at 
their  own  charges,  studied  last  year  in  the 
theological  school  of  the  mission  at  Manila, 
28 


that  they  might  be  better  fitted  to  teach 
the  living  Gospel. 

Five  ordained  Filipino  pastors  are  work- 
ing in  this  province,  one  of  them  with  a 
church  of  nearly  a thousand  members,  and 
another  with  a church  of  over  five  hun- 
dred. In  addition  to  these  pastors,  there 
are  twelve  elders  and  five  evangelists,  sev- 
eral of  them  supported  by  the  churches. 

On  the  Coast  of  Bohol 

Bohol  is  one  of  the  smaller  of  the  large 
islands  of  the  Visayan  group  of  the  Philip- 
pines, and  Tagbilaran  on  the  southwestern 
corner  of  the  island,  and  its  capital  is  the 
home  of  three  missionaries.  Who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  evangelization  of  its 
275,000  people? 

The  population  of  Bohol  is  in  villages 
around  the  edge  of  the  island  or  only  a 
little  distance  inland.  They  were  held  here 
in  the  old  days  by  the  influence  of  the 
church  whose  parishes,  scattered  along  the 
sea  shore,  sought  to  keep  the  people  near 
at  hand,  and  discouraged  the  development 
of  the  interior.  In  fourteen  different  cen- 
ters there  are  now  groups  of  evangelical 
believers  gathered.  We  met  with  repre- 
sentatives of  a number  of  these  congre- 
gations, and  nothing  could  have  been  more 
natural,  and  at  the  same  time  more  super- 
natural than  the  way  in  which  the  Gospel 
had  been  brought  and  taken  rootage.  The 
most  northwesterly  congregation  had  grown 
out  of  the  work  of  a man  who  had  gone 
to  the  medical  missionary  then  in  Cebu, 
to  get  a piece  of  steel  removed  from  his 
eye,  and  who  after  he  had  secured  relief, 
lingered  about  watching  the  missionary, 
and  studying  the  religious  teaching  which 
he  had  brought.  Convinced  of  its  truth, 
and  with  a personal  experience  of  its  love, 
he  came  back  to  spread  Christian  litera- 
ture, and  to  gather  a group  of  believers. 

In  still  another  center  the  church  had 
grown  from  a beginning  with  one  man  who, 
29 


thirty-eight  years  ago,  heard  the  Gospel 
in  Singapore,  who  had  been  a friend  of 
Rizal,  the  Filipino  patriot,  in  Manila,  in 
the  days  before  there  was  any  religious 
liberty,  and  who  with  the  American  occu- 
pation heard  the  Gospel  once  again,  and 
believed.  At  Antoquera  the  Gospel  had 
been  brought  in  by  young  men  who  were 
peddlers,  and  who  obtained  New  Testaments 
in  their  wanderings.  And  so  in  just  the 
natural  ways  in  which  numan  influence  al- 
ways spread,  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  had 
gone  abroad,  and  in  the  supernatural  way 
that  is  characteristic  of  it,  had  germinated 
and  borne  living  fruitage. 

The  mission  chapel  was  packed  to  the 
walls,  and  the  windows  and  front  door  awray 
out  to  the  middle  of  the  road  were  crowded 
with  listeners  at  the  evening  meeting  dur- 
ing our  visit.  The  Governor,  the  school 
teachers,  the  leading  men  and  women  of 
the  community,  were  present,  and  the  even- 
ing bell  from  the  beautiful  picturesque  old 
Roman  Church  on  the  bluff  overlooking  the 
bay,  called  none  of  the  audience  away.  If 
ever  there  was  an  open  door  for  the  Gospel 
in  any  land,  it  is  in  the  Philippine  Islands 
to-day. 

The  Task 

The  population  of  the  sections  of  the 
Philippine  Islands  entrusted  to  our  mission 
for  evangelization  is  about  2,500,000.  To 
meet  this  responsibility  we  have  22  men 
of  whom  four  are  physicians  and  five  are 
teachers,  with  21  married  and  5 single 
women. 

Our  field  embraces  14  provinces.  Mis- 
sionaries live  at  present  in  but  ten  of  these, 
the  others  are  entirely  open.  To  adequately 
occupy  the  territory,  fill  present  vacancies, 
and  staff  Silliman  Institute  properly,  the 
Mission  asked  when  it  had  19  men  that  the 
number  be  doubled. 

“THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH/’  IT 
IS  SAID,  “IS  NOT  ACCUSTOMED  TO 
30 


SHIRK  ITS  FULL  RESPONSIBILITY 
AND  WE  ARE  ASSURED  THAT  IT 
WILL  NOT  DO  SO  IN  THE  PRESENT 
INSTANCE.  WE  ARE  SURE  IT  WILL 
HELP  US  TO  COME  UP  TO  THE  FULL 
MEASURE  OF  DUTY.  There  is  no  rea- 
son for  looking-  on  this  work  as  one  never 
to  be  finished,  stretching  out  eternally  and 
our  never  reaching  the  end.  There  is  no 
need  of  another  generation.  Double  our 
force  and  we  promise  with  God’s  help,  not 
that  every  soul  shall  accept  His  Gospel, 
but  that  every  soul  shall  have  a chance  to 
do  so  during  the  coming  ten  or  at  the  most 
fifteen  years.  The  Philippine  government 
covered  the  islands  with  its  schools  in  three 
years,  and  has  a complete,  successful  sys- 
tem of  education  running  in  ten.  IS  OUR 
BELOVED  CHURCH  LESS  ABLE?” 

Robert  E.  Speer, 

Secretary , Pres.  Bd.  of  For.  Missions. 


Administration  Building:,  University  of  the  Philippines. 
Manila,  the  crown  of  the  new  educational  system. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions 

of  THE 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 

Form  2457 


October,  1916 


31 


Tlie  old  men  fight  cocks — the  young  men  play 
baseball . 


32 


